Mackenzie Dern Responds to Amanda Cooper’s Criticisms of Her Skills

Mackenzie Dern isn’t much for trash talk but she’ll certainly respond when an opponent has something to say about her.

In the lead up to her fight at UFC 224 next weekend, Dern has heard Amanda Cooper’s criticisms of her after she made her debut against Ashley Yoder in March.

Cooper said that Dern had ‘no wrestling’ and wouldn’t be able to deal with her kind of power on the feet if they stood and exchanged strikes.

While Dern is certainly happy to address her shortcomings, she wonders if Cooper’s high powered perception has ever been aimed inwards considering her 3-3 record with all of her losses coming by way of submission as she prepares to face arguably the most dangerous Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in the women’s strawweight division.

“I know that she’s talking a lot,” Dern said about Cooper. “I’m not a trash talker so it’s different for me to fight someone that’s talking so bad about me. I mean they can criticize my stand up but my jiu-jitsu, I don’t see anyone at 115 [pounds] who has jiu-jitsu like mine. Maybe I need to work my wrestling, my transitions, but jiu-jitsu level wise, there’s nothing she can say.

“She’s also going to fight in Brazil. She shouldn’t be talking. The best way to fight in Brazil is to be a little quieter and try to get the crowd on your side, not against you.”

Dern doesn’t shy away from the good and the bad from her UFC debut against Ashley Yoder, who is a long, tall submission fighter in her own right. Still, Dern doesn’t have a problem with the way that fight played out because she was able to get some valuable cage time and still walk away victorious.

If anything, Dern says that Cooper better hope that her wrestling is subpar because if this fight his the floor, she’s going to do her best to wrap up a submission in front of the partisan crowd in Brazil.

“Amanda’s totally different. Amanda, all of her losses have come by submission,” Dern said about Cooper. “She’s my size, my length, we’re almost the same size. It’s a way better matchup. I’m excited to do this fight. I think I will get the submission way easier.

“I don’t feel like I want to show too much of my stand up on this fight. I just want to submit her.”